Mark Burik (00:00.418)
Hi everyone that is joining us on the podcast and on our weekly meeting. Today we have Kaylee York. She's a current ABP Pro players and she's a former NCAA D1 beach player. She played at LSU and today she's going to talk to us about her career, but also the importance of women health and how
hormones can actually affect your performance. So Kaylee, hello, welcome. Hello, thanks for having me. Of course. First question, can you just tell us about yourself? just introduce yourself, your beach ball locker year, how you got into playing beach volleyball. Yeah, I grew up in Florida. So I started playing beach and indoor around the age of 12.
Which was really fortunate during that time. It wasn't beach volleyball wasn't really a thing for juniors Which has been really cool to see it grow, but I ended up getting recruited and playing at LSU So I played at LSU for four years We were a top five program. I think all four years I was there And then the year afterwards I stayed and I trained there under Drew Hamilton who's Taryn and Christian's coach
And then following that year, I ended up moving out to California to kind of get more into the scene, to play a little bit more, to be around partners and whatnot. And so I've been living out here for about two to three years now. And I've been competing during that time. Awesome. So can you tell us about, I know I want us to get straight into the subject. if you don't know Kaylee, she really inspires and focus on talking about women health and
really trying to take up that stigma about the talking about it. just, can you just tell us like what inspired you to focus on women health and like related and has it related to athletic for you? Yeah. So it kind of came from my experience really in college.
Mark Burik (02:13.551)
So I had some like health related issues and part of that I ended up having any regular cycle and I was just kind of told over and over and over again that it was just normal because I was an athlete. And I came from a very like health conscious family and people who my parents knew a lot about health and wellness and that sort of thing. And I just didn't think that that was normal.
So anyways, I kind of struggled through that and I had a lot of resources at LSU and I just wasn't really able to really make it click. And so I kind of like struggled my way through college, sorta kind of found it out. And then I ended up falling into a health certification for coaching, health coaching. And there I began to learn a lot more about it. And then I got a certification in hormone specialty and I learned more and more and more.
And then when I came onto the professional circuit, I ended up having a lot of conversations with a lot of other girls on the tour. And so many of them had such similar experiences to me. And they were from so many different programs across the country. And so my idea really was that I originally thought it was just kind of me. And once I started talking to these pro players, I was like, oh, no, this is a mass issue.
And this is something that I really think we're all experiencing these things, that it's something that there's something to be done about it. And so that's what led me to kind of create Flow to Grow, which is the company I run now, which is all about women's health and women's health and sports. it's really been about like, you know, understanding your body and learning to listen to your body is truly a key to performance.
And I think a lot of people understand that really well. But I think what Flow to Grow teaches is that this language, this like listening to your body, this language of the body, the cues of the body is completely different for women than men. And so it's really teaching what is that language and what are the things to pay attention, how are women different than men? Yeah, I love that. The first that you created, I think it's great because there is so much unknown.
Mark Burik (04:26.063)
Like for me, myself as a player, like, I'm sure I can relate to some other thing that happened and I know other people too. So could you tell us like more specifically, like what type of symptoms, like how did you know that something was different just because someone listening right now is probably has no idea. Yeah. You know, and then they'd be like, oh wait, I'm also feeling that way. Yeah, no, exactly.
I think it's really understanding that, you know, the typical things like, okay, if you don't have a period as a woman, or if you have any regular cycle, like those are both cues that something is wrong. But I think there's also other things as well. So there's things like poor sleep or low energy, or there's a lot of things that are wrapped up in PMS that people don't understand. Like it's not just cramps, can be headaches, it can be...
mood swings, there's so many different areas because it does impact every aspect of your life. And I think that's what people don't really get is that like a woman's hormone cycle is not just when she's on her period, it's a monthly cycle and it impacts so many things that are not just what we typically associate it with. Yeah, totally. So how, how would you say the hormonal changes throughout the month?
And how do you think affects the athletic performance for women? Yeah. So hormones, essentially, your hormone cycle is made for pregnancy, right? Like it's a reproductive system, which is true. But what people don't understand is the mechanisms in which that this impacts for pregnancy actually impacts performance as well because of what it does to the body. So I typically split it up into
like your first half of your cycle and your second half of your cycle. And so in the first half of your cycle, so this is from when you start your period to ovulation, which is typically somewhere around 14 days between both. So this is when estrogen is like slowly climbing. So estrogen and progesterone are the two hormones that dominate a woman's cycle. The first half of the cycle is dedicated mainly to estrogen. So as estrogen is increasing in our body,
Mark Burik (06:49.412)
So does our energy. So does our focus. So does our motivation. We become more social. There's actually a lot of studies done in terms of like muscle recovery and muscle build and fat burning and its relationships to estrogen. Estrogen has relationships with neurotransmitters. So serotonin, dopamine, all those things are typically why you feel so good. And so the point of this and the reproductive sense is to encourage
you to get pregnant, pretty much. But for athletes, this also impacts our energy, our focus. All these things actually impact our performance and our approach to training as well. So then in the second half, you switch to progesterone is dominating the second half. So this is like, OK, we're leading up. We're trying to get the body, or a woman trying to
her pregnant. And then the second half is like, okay, are we pregnant or are we not? And this is kind of like this deciding factor. And there's a lot of like fluctuations and this is when we can experience PMS symptoms mainly. But it's trying to make sure that our body is safe for potential pregnancy. So that's what it's doing on a reproductive thought process. But for an athlete, as progesterone increases, it's making us a little bit more hungry. It's making us want to sleep a little bit more.
So there's these things that the body is doing to try to protect the body in case it's pregnant that we can feel the effects of as athletes. I mean, it's just like such an unknown world, you know, and it's I think it's so important to know like how to peak in your performance and by being aware of it. Like I think it's a lot more helpful for everyone, not only players, but also coaches.
So what do you think are the misconceptions about women health so far that you think that coaches and athletes need to understand? Yeah, I think the biggest misconception that I see is that a cycle is just relating to a woman on her period. And I think this is why we kind of avoid this topic in general, because that can be a little bit of an uncomfortable conversation, especially like male coach to player.
Mark Burik (09:14.897)
I don't know many young girls that are gonna wanna talk to their coach about their menstrual cycle or their period. So I think, first of all, just getting away from this idea that it's just this four to seven days where you have your period, it's a month long. I think the world that athletics is moving in, we're really starting to understand the things that are part of athletics that aren't the sport itself. So we're really starting to dive into like...
lifting and nutrition and psychology and recovery and like we're really starting to talk to our athletes about that more. All because they help us optimize our body to be able to show up to practice, to be able to build muscle, to be able to avoid injury, to be able to perform, to be able to be a good teammate. Like that's why we're talking about all these things. And I think understanding that talking about a woman's hormone cycle does that as well. It hits all those things as well. It's talking about injury, it's talking about energy, it's talking about
motivation, it's talking about like recovery, like all these things, a woman's cycle impacts as well. So I think just using more performance language on it and understanding that it is a tool to performance too. Yeah, well, that's, that's true. Like everything I do think like me growing up, I would never go to my male coaches and if I do be like, yeah, I'm up here. He will always, he's awkward about it because it's like, I don't know how to react. You know, type of thing. It's like,
He doesn't want to make us uncomfortable in a way because he doesn't have any knowledge about that. He's just not like, oh, she's on our page. I can second that. Yeah. It's true. But it's not in a bad way. It's also like nobody ever talked about it to male coaches. Like, hey, it's OK. We need to have that conversation almost. It should be normal.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think too, like, it's addressing the fact that it is uncomfortable, you know, and just kind of like owning that. And what I kind of try to get across to coaches is it, you know, you can talk about it without ever having to say the word period, you know, and it's like, you can implement things into, you know, like, you're creating this cool environment for your players to come to, right? It's an environment about like,
Mark Burik (11:39.858)
building, it's about like, there's so many things that are part of athletics and bring awareness to health and all these things. And you're kind of like this like head person for it. And, you know, you see a lot of coaches, you know, like nutrition, for instance, like if a player is just having an energy drink in the morning, or they're not eating throughout a tournament, or maybe they're saying they're hungry all the time, like a lot of coaches have experience in nutrition and fueling themselves. And so, you know, you might
address it, you might talk to them about it, you might give them some advice about it. And you're not trying to be their nutritionist. And I think it can be a similar approach to the cycle, where it's like, you're not trying to be this professional in this system, and you're not trying to talk about the specifics of it. But if you hear them talking about like, you know, they have PMS, or they have cramps, or they have these things, like, I think just like bringing awareness to fact that that's not a normal thing, and helping them find the resources to be able to help themselves. And I think to like,
You know, a lot of these younger girls, like they don't really understand what's happening in their body. And, know, even like older women now, like most people don't really know these things. And so they don't really have language for it. They have no way of talking about it and they have no way of understanding it. So I think as a coach, you taking time to educate yourself about it allows you to create language around it that can help them talk through these things and help them bring awareness to these things.
and it doesn't have to do anything to do with their period. Katie, do you have a link to some resources? I assume you have a website that talks about this in relation to sports performance. Yeah. Yeah. I have an Instagram that I would post a lot on where I post resources as well and links to go to and research and that sort of thing. Do you have your own guidebook or something that you put together or?
for coaches? Yeah, for coaches to say, okay, here's a chunk of time we're not going to work on strength training. We're going to work on this. Here's a chunk of time where we're going to really not teach anything new. We're going to focus on what we know and we're not going to make a frustrating practice or you know, you know what I mean? Do you have a guide like that? kind of leads the team through? don't yet. Yeah, no, would actually, I would really like to start
Mark Burik (14:07.166)
going to clubs and going to organizations and talking to coaches a little bit more about this. I don't have anything written out. However, if that's something that someone would want, I would love to start going and talking more about this to coaches because it does really stem from them. I mean, the Idiot's Guide for Coaches would be nice. Yeah, the start. away. Approach with caution. Approach with caution. But it's silly, but it's true.
Nobody like before like even like growing up like nobody expects your coaches to have that knowledge in a way, you know, but this is just a plus and I think it can because like coaches on players have such a big impact on our life. Yeah, we all remember the coach we had that really helped us push through and we also remember that coach that hated us and that made us live hell. So it's like if when you build that trust with your player and you're able to
as a player come to your coach and talk about those personal, like personal, feeling it's, think as a coach, it's almost like a reward. Like that person trusts me to talk about those problems, which is really personal. So I think if as a coach, we have the resource to help them to understand and to be able to answer the right way, that will be, that'll be a game changer. Yeah. of the challenges I'd say for, especially for me is like,
You know, my wife, Sophie and I, coach primarily high school age kids. I would never, I think, broach this topic. I would like to be prepared if somebody brought it to me. Because I could see the backlash from the parents. You're doing what? Yeah, you're talking about what? I mean, college is different and beyond because they're professionals or athletes. They're responsible to themselves.
you know, some 13 year olds are talking to me about our period. I'm not sure. I'm certainly not equipped to do that, but I'm not sure that that's not something that the parents would be like.
Mark Burik (16:13.27)
What are you doing? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think my daughter about her period. Yeah. I think maybe. I don't know. No, I agree. I mean, I don't think we're necessarily in a world where, you know, we get to address things or do things or really talk so blatantly about it yet. And I think hopefully that we will eventually get to the spot where there's not this stigma around it and it's not this uncomfortable thing. And it can be talked about a little bit more from like a performance aspect.
I think for now, because I completely agree, like I think parents or kids might not react super strong. But I think it's from that education route, like understanding what topics can I talk about that do impact this. And so for coaches specifically, it's like kind of what I was saying earlier, like our cycle impacts, you know, our nutrition and our recovery and our energy, right, and vice versa. So like,
understanding that helping them engage in like wellness things. like making sure that you talk about feeling themselves before practice and not just having energy drinks in the mornings because that's a huge thing with younger girls. Teaching them the importance of sleep, teaching them how to do recovery after practice, like how do we do a cool down, helping them like transferring the parasympathetic, teaching them, you know, like I think
All those things are like paying attention to their energy. How's your energy fluctuating? What do you feel today? What are things you're bringing to practice? I think starting to bring those things is very, very helpful and impactful to the hormone cycle, which you don't even have to address.
Mark Burik (17:58.385)
I like that. looked at hormone supplementation, things like that. know, like the guys on the men's side, TRT, peptides, all that stuff. So are you looking into that as well for performance purposes on the women's side? Estrogen, testosterone, testosterone? Yeah. I mean, I think our version of that is probably birth control. Exactly, because it's hormone augmentation, right? Yeah, so... Does that affect performance?
Yeah, I definitely think there are women out there who have used birth control for performance aspects because it creates a normal fluctuation of hormones. But I think understanding that that hormone is synthetic and there are as much as there are benefits, there's also risks to doing something like that. And same thing, I guess, on the men's side with hormone supplementation. That's not really something that I encourage a lot of.
just because I think there are a lot of natural ways to help the production and fluctuations of hormones. I just think that we live in a world that doesn't encourage it. And so like we see a lot of issues because of the way we're taught to operate and because of there's such like a lack of understanding and education. So I think when like there's so many like basic, there's so many like low hanging fruits.
for these girls to be able to do to help their hormones just fluctuate naturally. I think those low-hanging fruits are a better place to start than hormone supplementation. Yeah. No, I mean, as I say in the Navy, I can always lead a sailor to knowledge, but I can't make them think. Sophie is a nutritionist by training, not full-time, but we've taken that route with all our girls and, this is we're supposed to do. And then they'll show up with a monster in their hand.
Every time. The energy drinks are close. They need to be banned nationwide. It's just awful. It's killing for kids. I mean, it's crazy. And so like, on that side of things, like one of the biggest... I don't know I just joined. Hello. One of the biggest things in regulating hormones and like a healthy cycle is stress management and understanding that stress comes from like a lot of different...
Mark Burik (20:19.315)
areas, not just like the emotional stress that you typically think of. Like a stress response can come from lack of nutrition or it can come from an increase in caffeine, like energy drinks and that sort of thing. So stress can come from so many different areas. And I think truthfully, that is one of the biggest things that impacts a woman's cycle. And I think that's one of the lowest hanging fruits that we can deal with right now, especially in athletes, because
Female athletes specifically, like you're put into situations where stress is very high, you know, whether that's going to a practice or a lift or trying to fuel and keep up with the feeling of those lifts, whether that's pressure to perform, whether that's pressure to like time manage, you know, there's all sorts of these like stressors in your life that are implemented because you're an athlete and there's not much teaching of how to balance and counteract that. And so I think that's the best place to start for these younger athletes.
So could I ask you another go ahead. So Kayleigh, from a stress management perspective, and I get this question a lot, because I see these parents driving around, taking their kids to all the things. Indoor club practice, beach practice, boys soccer practice, hockey, you know, it just goes on and on. And I ask this of every professional athlete in the Olympics, I ask them, hey, so when you were growing up, did you do indoor and beach? Because there's a big
push out there just to fo are like, hey, if you're you're gonna play pe coaches are like, hey, you gonna focus on indo that I've talked to you pl just a sign of the time, stressful to me to do bo I have a, I'm either but I want to do what's
Mark Burik (22:15.832)
I actually played soccer and volleyball and beach volleyball for which was within the same season in Florida. And I remember like leaving practice 30 minutes early to go to another two hour practice. And I really love like young players playing multiple sports. I think there's so much benefit in crossover between sports that I think it's really amazing. But like I said, I don't think that we're taught how to balance it.
Right? So it's like, for me as a professional athlete, what I've learned and as I've learned more of these things, it's like, okay, like understanding what does my fuel need to look like if I'm increasing my activity this much? Like it's not gonna look similar to my other athletes who are maybe just doing one sport or just have one practice. It's not gonna look similar to my friends who are not doing sports at all. So I think understanding how to adjust based on that. And I also think really implementing what I call like reset activities. So like,
I love putting my feet up on the wall after I lift, like for five minutes. And that helps my body switch out of this like stress response and survival mode to rest and digest is kind of what we've heard of it before. And so I think implementing more activities like that is really, really important and crucial. And they can just be five minutes. And so there's plenty of time for them. And I think just like implementing that more, I think that's another thing coaches can really encourage doing post-practice is these reset activities.
Give me a good example of a reset activity say after a beach practice Yeah, I mean I think the biggest one I mean on beach it's a little hard because obviously you're on the sand Because I love the feet up the wall There's another one if you lay on the floor and you rock your feet back and forth. It's like creates like a rocking motion to your body Meditation kind of has a negative. I feel like people are like how that takes so long but seriously just like five minutes without stimulation
and just like sitting there and like breathing. Any sort of breathing exercises are phenomenal. Those are the few that I think I stick with the most and that are the quickest for me. But the goal of these things is for those out there who don't know sympathetic, parasympathetic, when the body goes into a stress response, it goes into the sympathetic nervous system. And so this is essentially the body's like survival mode. So it's like,
Mark Burik (24:42.732)
our old response to like practice does this lift does this emotional stress and stress isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it just it happens. And in the olden days, it was like, I'm just trying to survive. Right. So it's like, what do I need to do? Survive? It's like a tiger's coming to attack me. Like I need to be able to run. I need to be able to move. I need to be able to do these things. But the problem now is these kids are stuck in this chronic survival state, this chronic stress or state. And when we're in this state, we're just trying to survive. So we shut off things in our system.
and our body that we don't need in that moment to survive. And so two of the things that it actually ends up shutting down is our digestive system and our reproductive system. So when we're in this chronic stress state, our hormones, our reproductive system is not operating optimally and our digestive system is not operating optimally. And I think that's two problems that we see a lot with these younger athletes is like digestive issues and hormonal issues.
And I think it really comes from this chronic stress that athletes are taught just like go, go, go all the time. And they're never taught how to balance and never taught how to reset. They're never taught how to get out of this sympathetic, the survival mode into parasympathetic rest, digest, recover that sort of thing. That's great. You know, I think that you've given me something really actionable there because for my athletes who are playing in tournaments, for instance, in between matches. Yep.
to say, look, you got to this five minute reset. Yeah. Then eat. Yeah. And get ready for next. Cause know, you can snack all day long when you're playing in a tournament because you know, when you're up next. So that's a great idea. So that would turn that digestive system back on, reduce the stress and low energy. then next set. Yeah. Absolutely. And I mean, it helps with muscle recovery. It helps with so many different things. and yeah, I love that. I love that in the middle of tournaments and then
eating, helping recover that, get the resources available for the next match. Awesome. Thank you. Yeah. So let's keep talking about that. But is there any specific food or supplements that you recommend to support the hormonal health? Yeah, I mean, I think that's a really tough question, because one of the barriers within this is how individualized it is.
Mark Burik (27:05.083)
just because every woman's cycle is so different. I think common things that people look at, the most common one I would say is probably magnesium is the biggest thing. And it does help with our stress response, which again, is what athletes are dealing a lot with. A lot of people look into like B vitamins and to zinc or iron are common ones. There's some like vitamin C. A lot of it's just kind of like,
looking at what does your life look like and how to help supplement and support that stress response, I would say an inflammation response.
Mark Burik (27:47.258)
You good? But I would say the biggest thing with supplements is to be very like, careful and like this is definitely not a generalized suggestion just because it is really important to look at what your specific biology needs. And how would you find that out? If someone is like, want to know like, do I need? Like, where did they go? Where can I find that out? Yeah.
I would say the biggest thing is working with a professional. think the biggest help is going to be a nutritionist. We'll be able to support that best. Or any sort of functional practitioner typically looks at a more holistic view. And so they'll have some sort of nutritional background for that. Nice. Awesome. Yeah, other question I had. So what advice would you give someone during a competition?
that they're dealing a lot, competition or not competition, like their energy and the mood fluctuate a lot. What advice would you give to those athletes? Yeah, I would say the way I approach, the time, so typically like in our first half, during our period, it's kind of, it's very different. I feel very good and
I'm capable when I'm on my period, but some athletes don't. But typically when estrogen is rising, we feel really great. like performance feels fantastic. Like you feel easy. Everything feels good. So I don't talk about that time very often. But when we're switching, when we've ovulated and we're switching over to our second half where progesterone is a little bit more dominant and our body's like, whoa, hold on. Like we were trying to protect our body here. That is when we feel maybe not our best.
And so the way I always approach that is just making sure, one, I understand that hormonally, like mentally, neurotransmitters and that sort of thing, I'm lacking a little bit more. So it's normal to feel a little bit less motivated, a little bit less energy and like just really making sure that the way I mentally approach that is not being hard on myself or not feeling better. So that's kind of where I always start.
Mark Burik (30:09.597)
Second, I look at nutrition and so it's proven that we, I think we burn up to like 200 to 300 more calories during that time because there's our body temperature goes up. So metabolic, metabolically we're burning more calories. So we typically are more hungry. So making sure that we're eating enough, we're feeling enough, that sort of thing.
And then I think lastly, for me, the way I approach is I'm a little bit more susceptible when I first started tracking to injury during that time. So the way I approach performance is always making sure that I have a much longer warmup than I do during the first half of my phase. So I like to get there an extra 30 minutes early just so I can kind of like settle in and ease into everything. And then I'm really, really proactive.
like I said, with those reset activities during tournaments. If that answers your question, full day. No, no. It's great. It's great. And I think also something that just popped up to my mind, how, because especially like I'm thinking about you, Steven, like in high school, it's kind of like when the moments were starting to get a period.
So some girls have their period, some other girls don't have their period and I also think that's where it creates the awkwardness because you almost feel like awkward to not have your period yet, for example. And I think it's not only in sports, I think the entire world thinks this is an awkward topic, but to someone listening that cannot talk to their people around, how do you know...
your cycle, just explain what a cycle is, just so they can understand also when those time period comes. Yeah. So your cycle is essentially when you start your bleed. So when women starts their first bleed, that's when the hormone cycle demonstration cycle begins. So this is typical between 12 to 15.
Mark Burik (32:22.461)
is the normal age range in which a woman's cycle would start. Anything past that, like 16, it's like hit or miss, but if you're 17, it might be time to look to a doctor to talk to someone about why your period may not have started. So what essentially happens is your estrogen begins to rise, and that's what creates like female features in your body.
And so then that's what starts producing that hormone cycle. And so your bleed happens and that's when like the cycle begins of like, there's four phases. There's your menstrual, your follicular, ovulation, and luteal. And so it's essentially telling your body that you are able to get pregnant. If that answers your question completely. I'm not sure. Yeah. No, no, it's good, but I just want to know like, because so many people think it's like,
we only get affected on our period by having like different understanding the different period of time. It's as like for me personally, I can understand my body better if I know exactly like what period of time is. Yeah. For example. Yeah. So this is actually, that's a really good question. I think I understand a little bit more now, but, but essentially what like a complete cycle is.
is those four phases. And so obviously, our menstrual phase is our period. And so that's, that one's really obvious, like you're bleeding. And the next three phases are where people get a little bit confused because the time of your cycle can fluctuate woman to woman. So a general cycle is around 28 days. I think it can get as low as 22 days.
if I remember correctly, and they can get as most as I think 32 days. So it can fluctuate fairly normally within those phases. But typically a woman will be like you yourself will be around the same days. So like my cycle could be 28 days, and it might be 27, 28, 29, but it will be within a day or two of that. And then you say maybe 25 days.
Mark Burik (34:47.293)
and then you will stay around the same. So a woman will typically stay around the same amount of days. But if you start your period, so this is it's really important to track your period. So ovulation, the time when you ovulate can change. And so this is because your follicular phase either gets short or longer, depending on stress. And so depending on different lifestyle factors can impact the duration of your entire cycle. So you can know your cycles being irregular.
If you have extended periods of time where it's like I'm 28, then I'm 35, then I'm 15, then that's typically an irregular cycle and that's a sign that something is wrong. So that's something that people can pay attention to as well. But that's why I think tracking is really important. So you can track on, there's a bunch of different apps that you can track on. And you just track when your period starts and when your period ends. And then they'll kind of have suggestions on terms of like when you'd be ovulating and that sort of thing.
Mm hmm. Yeah, that's great. Can you give a few example of apps that you trust that people can look up if there is some free ones like paid one? Yeah, I use a paid one. My favorite one is Moody. And it's if you're looking to learn more about your cycle, it's a phenomenal app because it includes like tips every single day based on where you are, things that you can do includes like
nutrition suggestions, exercise suggestions, all like it includes information just about cycles and women's health in general. So I think that's probably one of the best ones that one is paid for. But you can do ones like I think it's like P tracker is the one I originally use and that one's completely free. I will admit like don't fully pay attention to when they say you're ovulating because it's a general assumption.
And women can be different time to time. So if you're just paying attention to that to like help avoid pregnancy, I would say don't just rely on an app. But it's really helpful to be able to track symptoms and that sort of thing. I also really like Stardust or Lively. But there's, I mean, there's so many people out there that people really enjoy and like. Yeah. Okay. That's great. I think it's also so people can also find their own resources through.
Mark Burik (37:11.487)
does app as well. And for coaches, why do you think what practical practical steps they can take now to kind of learn more and also find a way to communicate with their players about it without, mean, you obviously don't have to be like, Hey, today we're going to talk about this, but you could have, Hey, this week we have a speaker coming that is going to talk about this and it's going to introduce. So it's kind of like,
an outside source is going to come talk about it, but also something else that they can do to help their player understand it better. definitely think, I mean, like I said, first of all, educating yourself. like following accounts like mine or other accounts where they just talk more about it. And so you can get a little bit more comfortable with the language first. I think tangible steps, being really active and like the wellness of your players.
So encouraging good feeling habits, encouraging those reset activities like post-practice, teaching them about stress management, all these things, bringing awareness to like, where are you at mentally? Where is your energy at at the beginning of practice? I think are really great ways to start talking about the things that hormones impact and that impact hormones as well. What was another question that you said to answer?
Basically, like, for example, if someone would, like, I think what you should do, it's almost like offer your services to go talk in those high school, you know, and like to have like an outside source coming in and making them lunch. So we over those parental questions also. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, absolutely. If you are interested in
someone or me coming and talking to your club or your high school or whatever organization you run, feel free to reach out. You can DM me on Instagram right now. There. actually have a flow to grow one, but that one works too. But yeah, please feel free to reach out. I will absolutely come and run your club through workshop and just help them bring and understand how impactful hormones and women's health is in performance.
Mark Burik (39:35.265)
I love that. think it's great because it's, I think it's really important topic that we don't know as young girls growing up. But do you think that coaches should adjust their training schedule based on that, but also knowing you have 20 girls, so they could also be in a lot of different cycles. But also a lot of people say, and I know that happened to my team, that almost like
We sync. We sync up. Yeah, which is it's insane. I know it's really funny. There's actually interesting studies out there with that. that's a really is a really hard question. I think it's really cool. Actually, 2019, the women's soccer team, the national when they won the World Cup, they actually talk about how they did track each of their players cycle.
And so they really paid attention to like who needed recovery time, who needed more time on the field, who was able to handle certain things based on where they were at in their cycle. And they claimed it was extremely beneficial. So I do think it's really cool to see organizations kind of start to lean into that. Do I think it's extremely practical right now for everyone? No, I just don't think there's that much information out there in terms of how to handle the individuality and then that nature of it.
however, I do really believe that there's ways to bring awareness, to it without having to make huge adjustments. and so I think the biggest thing I think you said, Steven is like really teaching them how to think, and how to adjust on their own. And I think that's a great role that coaches can take right now is like, no, we may not be able to create systems that adjust. but we can create awareness and we can create language, to help them adjust on their own.
Mark Burik (41:32.289)
Yeah, I really appreciate that. That's, um, so as I think about it, you know, the club that we run is just got girls from all different schools and teams now come in and play beach with us. And, you know, they're from all various, up to eight or 10 different schools, but our, our team for our high school, we're the state champions four years in a row. So they are certainly very close. So I'm assuming in a similar cycle as well.
So yeah, it might be useful. I mean, it's a great school. I'm sure they've got a women's health professor there, know, talk about this stuff, but it's certainly be helpful for me to understand when I can introduce new concepts and when I should just stick with the old stuff. Conditioning and when we should just kind of like, you know, let's, let's just lay down and stare at the sky for a while. Yeah. Let's hang out for a second. think, yeah, I think too, like, um,
That kind of reminded me, I think there is like a stigma around like PMS symptoms and having cramps and that sort of thing. And so I think just like creating an environment where a female athlete could feel comfortable sharing that. Cause I feel like sometimes it will come out randomly, like, my stomach just hurts, you know? And it's like, then it's just like an avoided topic from that point forward, you know? And I think like just, yeah, it's just like allow,
And these girls have no idea what's happening with their bodies too. Like they have no, like the education is not there. So, you know, if they are like mentally, like, I don't know, like being terrible, if they're just like terrible one week, you know, and like they're amazing the next week and they're like flip-flopping, like that's a sign that maybe something hormonal is going on. I mean, that's a tough one because, you know, as you know, women's volleyball tends to be a little bit up and down, even within a set.
Yeah, no, no lead is safe. Yeah, never. I can count on one hand the number of men's comebacks when they've been down from more than six points on the world. Yeah. But yeah, I get saying I think for us, another thing would be just to consider the overall impact of the ability to have that discussion. know, lucky I've got I've got Sophie with me.
Mark Burik (43:57.25)
So maybe a little less. She's listening in. A little less awkward, maybe. Yeah, definitely. Have some 50-year-old coach guy talking to a 15-year-old girl versus my wife. Yeah, you're giving me a lot to think about. I did want to go back to one thing you said early on. I'm wondering, so you said that you were told by coaches, oh, that's normal in women athletes. So are you saying that?
you had issues because you're an athlete or is that they were saying you had issues because you're an athlete or is that the stress of being an athlete that causes that abnormality? Is that where you're coming from? Yeah. I think it's, I mean, I hear a lot of athletes in general kind of lose their period is a very common response. And I think generally because of the stress response, because we are put in really high stress situations and not really
And you know, lot of girls are dealing with, you know, body issues and wanting to be smaller. so typically, like, there's an under feeling there. Or there's like an over exercising there, which obviously leads to really high stress levels, which would lead to an absence of period. But yeah, I think it's it's very common. And I think people tend to say it's normal when it shouldn't be normal. And same thing with PMS, like PMS and an absence of period are not normal.
they are common and it's called, it's what's called a luteal phase defect is the technical term for it. And I think it's something odd, like I might butcher the statistic, so don't fact check me on this, but I want to say it's something like 80 % of active women have luteal phase defect, which means either PMS or an absence of period. And
that's just an active woman. That's like people who regularly exercise. That's not even like elite athletes or training athletes. And so I think that's a really scary number to start paying attention to. As the stress or the inability to calm yourself back down through relaxation or resets? Yeah, because the muscles are talking about the fire flight. Yeah. So it's the parasympathetic nervous system. which is fight or flight.
Mark Burik (46:20.964)
or the stress response is what I kind of refer to it as, or parasympathetic, which is like rest, digest, recover. And that's just like the calming down. So being able to switch between the two is what's really healthy for athletes. I think women in general need to be taught it. But I think athletes specifically, just because of the environments that were put in, need to be a little bit more proactive with it. And I think that's something that athletics in general is...
trying to lean into a little bit more. It's because, know, like we're really good at teaching, like work hard, like crush it, be gritty, you know, like we're really good about teaching those things, but I don't think we're really good at teaching. How do you recover? How do you balance those things? How do you take care of yourself? How do you pay attention before burnout or injury or recover? Like, you know, those sort of things. From what you're saying, I'm hearing a lot of crossover with our sports psychology piece.
Mm-hmm the sports ecology, you know, yeah apps that we use we have a sports psychologists that we use and a lot of it is just like almost like some meditation Yeah, exactly visualization breathing Talking positive self-talk all these things that lower your stress. Mm-hmm. And that's why I think it's important for people to become more educated about women's cycle because it does connect all these things so it's like it's impacted by
your mental resets and your meditation and the way you're able to approach these things. It's impacted by how much you're fueling. It's impacted by how well you're sleeping, your recovery. So if you have an irregular period, you have really bad PMS symptoms, you don't have a period. Those are all signs that maybe something in those categories needs addressing. And so I think that's why it's really important for athletes to start paying attention to is because if you do have issues,
there's something within nutrition, within psychology, within recovery that needs addressing. That's probably the root of those issues. So it's like a little cheat sheet. Yeah. No, it sounds good. I think also sports psychology for women would be slightly different than for men. Cause I know when I coach boys or men, it's different than coaching women, you know, more of a push on the guys and pull on the women's side. I think too with that, like,
Mark Burik (48:44.374)
It's an interesting concept because a men's hormone cycle, a man's hormone cycle is 24 hours. So it's like within a day, they've gone through their entire cycle. For a woman, it's, you know, like I said, it's around 28 days. And so I think we live in this world where it's like, you do these set of things every single day, and that's how you Bc-susxable. And you just keep doing it, right? Whereas you it's not eight seconds? What's that? Just like eight seconds?
But I mean, a woman like her week to week, her day to day is so different. And we like the athletic world doesn't really support that. It doesn't support this ability and this flexibility to change. And I think that's why we see so many issues is because there's this inability to be flexible with how you're approaching your like trainings, with how you're approaching your mindset, with how you're approaching your nutrition. Like there's just like this blanket statement, this black and white answer. Whereas girls change.
week to week and they're just not taught to be flexible with that. Gotcha. So if there's irregularity, just don't say, that's just normal. That's what happens when you're an athlete. Right. There's yeah, back to beginning. Yeah. Not regular. normal. It's not okay. Awesome. The last two questions I have for you, Kaylee, is what's one small change that every female athlete can make today that can improve their own mental health?
small chain.
Mark Burik (50:20.933)
I'm gonna say two things, but that's it. One, my biggest thing is track. Just pay attention, like learn to pay attention. So like do a body scan in the morning, just like learn to start bringing awareness to how you're failing and how things are changing. Two, which I think is a little bit more of a tangible thing, implement a reset activity, post activity. Like put your feet up a wall, like do no stimulation for like 10 to 15 minutes.
do a breathing activity, do the rocking, like do something post activity to help yourself kind of calm down before you go into the next thing. Love it. And last question, can you recommend any books, resource or tools that athletes and coaches that want to learn more can go to? And I also want you to write down in the chat box your Instagram. Yeah, I'll write down my Instagram. think
I'm gonna blank on the name. The period repair is a really great one, especially for anyone more curious about birth control. The period repair. It's a book. it's a book. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like Laura something. And I think the other one, can you still see me? Yeah. I'm typing in my, I think it's called, you're gonna see me looking at my screen. The other one I really like is the hormone cure.
So that one talks a little bit more about like different types of... A lot of people like call it like imbalances pretty much. I feel like it's whatever but a bunch of different types of imbalances of different hormones and symptoms of that and then direct fixes for it. So the period cure is really cool just because you can kind of like, what am I feeling? It just brings more attention to like...
different things you can be feeling based on different imbalances. Those are the two that I really like. They do use lot of jargon if you are a little uncomfortable with that language, but those are really great.
Mark Burik (52:32.888)
Awesome. And your Instagram, obviously. Yeah. Where's the chat box? It's at the bottom next to the mic. No, actually not next to people chat.
Mark Burik (52:54.535)
Awesome. So yeah, Kayleigh, thank you so much. That was so helpful. And I'm sure that Steven learned a lot and people listening are going to listen later on in the podcast. I do think that if you have any question, you can DM Kayleigh on Instagram. She'll be happy to answer you. And also if anyone wants to ever book her services,
to go come to talk to team, club, coaches. I also think you can DM her about that as well. But before we wrap this up, Steven or Nicole, if you're still listening, if you have any question, feel free.
I don't wanna hog all the time, Nicole.
have any questions, but I definitely want to say like, I really appreciate this talk because so I'm pregnant right now, but he's like had a really hard time getting pregnant. So I did have to track my hormones. And through that, found I was like, had like off the charts, estrogen levels. And I started working like with a nutritionist and I brought him back down. And it like, made me feel so much better. And it like fixed so many problems. So
definitely can attest to like how important hormones are for sure. Yeah, I definitely think people don't quite realize how much it affects us. And then like just like so many facets of life and you know, women aren't really talked about until they're trying to get pregnant or menopause happens and there may be issues and that sort of thing. So it's definitely like huge passion of mine just to talk about this earlier. So people just kind of understand it a little bit better. But I appreciate that.
Mark Burik (54:49.24)
Kayla, are you living in Brighton now or are in California? I'm in California. I'm in Redondo or North Redondo. Is there any volleyball in Redondo? Do you know Jordan Benoit?
I know that name. Pepperdine, a place for University of North Carolina now. Oh, no. I don't think I know her personally. She's from Florida. just thought, you know, she's a little younger. So I thought she might know her. She's running one of my clinics coming up. Oh, cool. That's awesome. Do you get back to Florida or visit your parents? I used to a lot, but my parents are actually traveling in a Sprinter van right now. So they are not in Florida. If you have any excuse to get to Florida, please hit me up because...
could do a clinic together and it'd be a great opportunity for you to discuss this other stuff. Yeah, I'll be on there for Pinecraft if you know what that is. For what? Pinecraft. Don't know what that is. No, the grass tournament. The grass tournament. I don't play touchy grass, you did really well at Wapaka this year. It's not grass necessarily. know. We almost played grass afterwards, but me and Devon were like, Hey, I saw you finished, you got a fourth in a FIVB.
Was it in Ontario? Yeah, it was in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia. But was it a Futures tour or something? It was Futures, yeah. Futures, gotcha. I saw the payout on that. I was like, that's it for fourth? That sucks. know. Futures is terrible. mean, Sophie played a world tour in Turkey and got a ninth in that. What did you get? 250 bucks each. Each. Oh yeah. This was a few years ago.
I'm like, what is going on? thought that was your first one. That can't be right. I want to say their first one, they went to Australia and they got like a hundred bucks each for winning. Yeah. If you, if you win it's a thousand dollar, but if you traveled that far, is it actually a thousand dollar? You just break even at first. I was going say, maybe. There's a futures in Pompano this weekend coming up. I've got a Canadian team playing in it. Some kids I've been training when they come down here, they're not my kids. just come down and they train with me.
Mark Burik (57:04.521)
Yeah, I'm just like, my god, you know, fortunately they're, you know, we're not making a living playing volleyball, but I was gonna ask you a final question. What's your future plans with beach volleyball? Are you still planning on going pro or are you doing this and then playing a little bit here and there? I mean, I know it's hard to make a living playing volleyball. Yeah, no, definitely hard. I mean, I'm still playing. I think next year, no one really knows what it's gonna look like.
But the plan is to keep playing and hopefully play a little bit more international and seek out some more opportunities there. Have you heard anything about the league? You don't know if they're going to continue this or how well they've moved? I think they're planning to continue. I just don't know how they're going to get any new teams in or handle partner switches is kind of my curiosity. yeah. Or open it up a little bit to more players, perhaps. Yeah.
Yeah, that would be great. A little like college style would be fantastic. Right, so no inside scoop from a pro. No inside scoop here. I know. Hopefully it'll come out soon. Awesome. Hey, thanks so much for your time. Good luck in the future. We'll be watching you. We're following you. Naples Beach, Palo Alto. We're following you now. Thank you. Thank you. know it was great. You don't have to, but thanks so much for your time.
Yeah, thanks so much for having me. enjoyed it. Thank you so much, Kaylee. That was awesome. All right. I'll see you guys.
